General Sir Frank Walter Messervy, (9 December 1893 – 2 February 1974) was a British Indian Army officer in the First and Second World Wars. Following its independence, he was the first commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army from August 1947 to February 1948. Previously, he had served as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command, India in 1946 and 1947.
Personal
Messervy was born in 1893 in Trinidad the oldest child of Walter John Messervy (born in Jersey in the English Channel), a bank manager in the colony (and later England) and his wife Myra Naida de Boissiere from Trinidad.
Early career
Sent to England from Trinidad, he was initially educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Indian Army in January 1913 and in 1914 joined 9th Hodson's Horse. which later became part of the 4th Duke of Cambridge's Own Hodson's Horse. He would see action in the First World War in France, Palestine and Syria from 1914 to 1918. He later served in Kurdistan in 1919.
After attending the Staff College, Camberley, from 1925−1926, Messervy was appointed as an instructor at the Staff College, Quetta from 1932 to 1936, where Bernard Montgomery was among his fellow instructors. He was made Commanding Officer (CO) of the 13th Duke of Connaught's's Own Lancers, then in British India, during 1938 and 1939.
Second World War
East Africa
In September 1939, Messervy was promoted to colonel and became a General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) of the 5th Indian Infantry Division, which was about to be formed at Secunderabad. In mid-1940, the division was sent to the Sudan to counter the threat from the Italian forces based in Italian East Africa. Messervy was appointed commander of Gazelle Force. Created on 16 October 1940, it was a mobile reconnaissance and strike formation of expanded battalion size created from elements of 5th Indian Division. During the ensuing East African campaign, Messervy commanded Gazelle Force with notable success, latterly attached to the Indian 4th Infantry Division. By 13 February 1941, the campaign had become static and Messervy's formation was disbanded.
In early March 1941, Messervy was promoted acting brigadier to command the Indian 5th Infantry Division's 9th Indian Infantry Brigade and played a significant role in the third Battle of Keren during the second half of March 1941. His promotion was in part related to his actions during the advance from Kassala through Agordat to the early fighting at Keren during February.
When Major-General Noel Beresford-Peirse, then commander of the 4th Indian Infantry Division, was promoted to command XIII Corps in North Africa Messervy, a brigadier for only six weeks, was appointed to take his place. He was promoted to the acting rank of major general as a result of his new appointment.
Western Desert – North Africa
Messervy took his division to North Africa in April 1941, taking part in Operation Battleaxe in June. During Operation Crusader in November that year, 4th Indian Division, dug in on the Egypt–Libya border, played a key role in repelling Rommel's tanks after they had defeated the British armour at Sidi Rezegh. The division's battle groups took part in the Eighth Army's pursuit when Rommel withdrew from his defensive positions at Gazala in December, ending the year at Benghazi.
In early January 1942 Messervy had received orders to depart for India where he would assume command of the 31st Indian Armoured Division. He was instead appointed to replace Major General Herbert Lumsden, the wounded commander of the 1st Armoured Division which had recently arrived in the desert. During Rommel's attack from El Agheila in late January 1942, the division was outmatched by the Axis armour and heavily defeated. Upon Lumsden's return in March, Messervy was moved to command the 7th Armoured Division ("The Desert Rats") which had just lost its newly appointed commander, Major General Jock Campbell, who had been killed in a motor accident, shortly after being awarded the Victoria Cross (VC). This made Messervy the only Indian Army officer to command a British Army division during the Second World War.
When division HQ was overrun by the Germans at the start of the Battle of Gazala, he was captured (27 May 1942); but, removing all insignia, managed to bluff the Germans into believing he was a batman and escaped with other members of his staff to rejoin division HQ the following day.
